The Days After
by xMing Yue
Summary: [Mai HiME and Utena crossover] Apocalypses adverted, the restless, the troubled, and the confuse band together. Those that can’t move on and those that don’t fit in live. Sometimes it is to forsake to forgive. The merging of two worlds.
1. Prelude

**A/N: **Looks like I'm back. Life has been busy with school, college aps, and all that good stuff. On top of that, my internet connection was being evil…periodically. I'm not too sure about how I handled the Utena cast and hopefully I don't butcher their characters. That and I have no idea where I'm going with this fic. Ah, well, let's just see were it goes.

Also, for plot reason I'm making it so that the HiMEs are able to summon their Elements later on. I got an idea how to do it without making it seem too cliché and unreasonable.

**Disclaimer: **Mai HiME and Shoujo Kakumei Utena both belong to their rightful companies and in no way do I own them.

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"Mashiro-sama, would you like some more tea?"

"Thank you Fumi-san"

A small hand reaches out to accept what was handed to her. It holds the cup delicately by its thin, elegant handle while the other hand took the small ornate plate. Daintily, the first hand brings the cup to its owner's lips. Light teal eyes close before opening slowly again. These eyes stare to the outside world.

Like a despairing farmer who surveys his once fertile land after a drought, Mashiro saw only ruins. Fuuka was battle-torn and weary, much like an old soldier who had seen too much of war and could not shake the past from his tired shoulders. It was inhabitable to the masses.

In the long run they were safe. Their apocalypse was adverted. The catalyst was destroyed, Kokuyou no Kimi was gone, the HiMEs were freed from their cage, and yet Mashiro knew better then to think that everything was over. Even though the crisis ended, its effects lingered on. The land reeked of pain and destruction. It had to heal before it could bear any fruit again. As of now, seeds could not be re-introduced to the land.

"What are we going to do Fumi-san? There are still two more months left of the school year yet we cannot allow the students back into the academy."

"I do not know," her maid answered, "it would be the best if we could school them somehow."

"It would be the best that they left here, Fumi-san, especially the HiMEs." The wheelchair creaks slightly as it turns and moves closer to the window. Petite, cold hands touch equally cold glass. The Queen of Hell continues to speak in her quite, weak voice.

"Yes, they should go and heal their wounds, their grievances. They all should. That would be for the best."

Silence again laps for a moment longer before a decision was made. Deliberately, Mashiro turned her wheelchair slowly to face her pink haired maid.

"Fumi-san. Please hand me the phone."

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_I pass to you my flower,_

_A symbol of dreams._

_You take the flower,_

_And pluck it to fit your ambitions._

_Your boots trample petals as you move on. _

Untitled 11/23/05 4:15 P.M.

**1st Movement**

Prelude

A glass chess board lay out on the table. Clear glass met murky white. All pieces stood proudly in their places. A foot taps in a steady beat like the ticking grandfather clock at the back of the planetarium.

_Tick tick…Tap tap_

The long legged man glanced from his place behind the lines of the murky white. At the side of the board laid large circular glasses. They seemed to survey, to be the onlooker judge of the match.

_Tick tick…Tap tap_

He was a beautiful man. He was a powerful man. One could describe him as princely. Just like the kind of man a normal girl would wish to be swept off her feet by and carried off to his white horse.

Yet he was not that man. Not anymore. For once his eyes showed his age. Worry, confusion, and exhaustion resounding in his icy depths. He leaned back into a large couch. His blue-silver crown was tilted back as he stared to the open sky.

"Why," he said. The word seemed to escape his beautiful lips like a sigh of defeat.

He thought he had everything. Everything had been well planned, yet…

There was no such thing as purity in this world. Nothing was supposed to be saved, yet…

Yet, there it was, clear white opposing him. His murky white pieces were outnumbered. His losses were extreme. His queen was gone.

This beautiful, exhausted man leaned forward so he could stare at the glasses.

"Why?" He said again.

He could not understand the raging emotions that rose in him. The world he had once tried to save had destroyed him and then remade him. And now, once he had conformed, his past came forth and bit him for becoming what he was. A part of him yearned to be whole again. Complete.

He decided it was better to be a content fool that knew nothing of the evil of the world than one that was wise in the dealings of the world.

_Tick tick…Crash_

Murky white fell to the floor. The king was in shatters. His usually neat, tied-back hair was clutched desperately.

"Why!" He cried out.

A phone rang.

Akio stood up and reached for the phone.

"Hello?...yes, this is he."

A small smirk forms across his visage. It looked at home on his face, as if it was made to exist there.

"It's been a while...yes." At that, his smirk falls and Akio's eyes flashed dangerously in anger before it fell again as if it had never been on his face. He continues to speak; his voice ebbed in edged politeness.

"Well…congratulations are in order for your _victory. _Is there something that you need…_ohime-sama_? …ah I see…I don't see why not."

Outside, the sky was dark. The white stars shone brightly.

"What an interesting idea. I'm sure we can make some accommodations. We certainly have the room...I look forward to seeing you soon."

With that he hung up. His shoulders were relaxed and Akio sits down, once again staring at the board.

_Tick tick_…

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Three days pasted since then and he still felt strange. A part of him was gone now, along with what had been left of his innocence that hadn't been taken. He stood, devoid of any energy, lost.

Who was he? Kokuyou no Kimi's vessel? Minagi Reito, brother to Minagi Mikoto? Kanzaki Reito, Vice President of Fuuka Gakuen?

Whoever he was…that man sat outside the front porch of his family estate and was looking up to see a dark sky unblemished by a huge red star that once hung overhead. Large droplets of water dripped off his face, hair, and body. He paid them no heed. He didn't care.

He had lost something that had been part of him since his childhood. Sometimes, during that time…he felt that it was him that was looking for power to create an ideal world. No, often it was like the two of them, together, looking through the same eyes and speaking the same words. Together their ideals merged into a single entity and purpose.

It had been Reito's knowledge and his planning that had initiated several of the schemes. He knew the players well enough to make them move according to his wishes. He was the mastermind. Reito could tell that some of them knew. Yet they could not accuse him because they were the ones that actually went through with it.

This scared him.

He knew that the Star only contained their power and magnified it. Once they got over their independence and shock, it would be likely that they would soon be able to use some of their power again.

What was he to do?

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"Hey, hey, didja hear?"

"About what? Oh! That. Yes. Doesn't it sound positively _exciting_? It's going to be so crowed here soon. All those new people."

"Like guys." The other girl giggled. "Do you think that there will be any charming guys in that school?"

"Like anyone could be—

At this point Arisugawa Juri stopped listening and returned her attention to the playing cards arranged on the cafeteria table. Her orange crowned head rested on her left hand as she idly drew cards from the deck. She was playing solitaire.

There was an odd tension that could be felt across the Academy. No one could explain it, yet everyone knew that something was missing. Something important was gone.

The Student Council member glanced at the card she was holding. The Four of Diamonds stared back at her with its dulling plastic surface. One could tell that the cards she was playing with were well used.

Out of sheer boredom, she focused her attention elsewhere while idly toying with the Four of Diamonds in her hand.

"Takagawa-says that she is visited by a ghost in her dreams," a boy informs who Juri presumes to be his friend.

"Really?" The girl next to him asks.

"Un. He says that she dreams she is walking towards the school and she suddenly sees a mysterious person."

"Ooh a mysterious person." The girl comments amusedly.

"Un. And for some reason she says that she is extremely existed to greet this person."

"He must be cute."

"That's the thing. She has no idea what that person even looks like or the gender of the person." He pauses, and Juri could easily tell that he was trying to stress the obscurity of the gender. He was definitely the boyfriend. "Not only that but she says that she felt that the "mysterious person" supposedly sat near her in class."

"Really?"

"She also says that she had this 'dream' for days."

"Hear anything of interest today, Juri?"

The first year high school student turned in her seat to see the smiling form of the Student Council President. At this, the panther only gave a small inclination of her head in acknowledgment.

"Is there something you want?"

At this the red haired student's smile only widened, attempting to give its owner an innocent gaze although it only served to make Touga look even more suspicious looking.

"Who said that I had to want something to spend time with the prettiest girl in Ohtori?"

Resisting the urge to roll her eyes, Juri remained silent as she watched the President take a seat opposite to her. For some reason, a flight of fancy, the she hid the card she was holding into her uniform's sleeve.

"What do you want," she repeated.

The long haired male spoke, ignoring her question. "Let's play a game."

Juri sighed and allowed herself to sink to his wavelength.

"What do you want to play?"

His smile returned, showing his impressive row of white teeth. Touga leaned forward so that his chin rested on the back of his hand. Strands of his silky red mane cascaded in rows of shining strands that partially covered his face.

"Let's play B.S. We can leave a section of cards off to the side so it won't be too easy…and pointless" He adds, almost as an afterthought.

"Fine." She gathered the cards into a single hand and started to shuffle them. She could feel the card she had hidden fall to her elbow area.

"It's all over Ohtori, Juri. Surely you heard of it." Toga suddenly shot, unsuspectingly.

She raised an eyebrow as she continued to shuffle. Finally she set the cards down and simply replied, "The ghost."

"Yes. It's odd, isn't it? Everyone dreams of the same person that never existed in this school."

"You checked?"

"Of course."

"You believe in this rumor?"

"Don't you?" He said, staring piercingly at her as if he was trying to force the truth to come out of her mouth.

Juri looked up from where she was dealing the cards. She met the older student's gaze with her own unmovable one.

"I would be a fool not to," she simply replied.

"Oh, really?" It was the other's turn to arch his brow.

"Yes, really. Tell me that you can remember all that has happened this year, Touga. All the duels you fought…I go first." She threw two cards onto the table. "Two Aces."

To this the blue-eyed playboy smiled as he off-handily answered, "fair enough. This year is all blur to me. I remember almost nothing of the duels except that something important had happened. What about you? One Two."

"One Three. Me…it is like what you said. I remember nothing of the duels that I participated in. I…I dream that I felt grief and sorrow so strong that it was like someone pulled a sword out of my chest."

"Interesting use of words Juri," his eyes were shining with ambition. "Say for a moment, just for fun, that revolution had been made this year and these are the effects we are experiencing. What if it is still continuing, the revolution; it had only just started. That we still have a chance to break of the worlds shell!" At this he stood up, both hands leaning on the table before he slowly sat back down, running his hand through his hair. "Two Fours."

"B.S. to everything you just said."

"That is the difference between us, Juri. You only play by the rules that are given to you. You don't search for the revolution, the power. There you sit in your chair, arms and legs crossed, refusing to accept it…"

He flipped two cards over. There it was…Four of Clubs and Four of Diamonds.

Juri leaned forward; she could feel the card she had hidden in her sleeve press against her skin. The card in question surface was glossy and clean like it had only just been opened.

A smug look was on Kiryuu Touga's face.

"…the power to change, to revolutionize the world order and to break away from simple borders."

"Cheater."

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"Shizuru—I'm back."

"Welcome back, Natsuki." Shizuru's clear distinct voice could be heard from the kitchen. The Kyoto-born was dressed in a simple white blouse and long lavender skirt. A purple apron topped off attire.

"I brought what you wanted."

"That's good. Could you come over and help me with dinner?"

"Sure," the younger of the two said as she brought the grocery bad into the kitchen. Natsuki pulled on a matching blue apron earning the appreciative smile from the other.

"My," Shizuru mused out loud, "Natsuki looks so cute." This of course, was earned her a light blush from her friend which she happily noted. "There is some negi in the refrigerator. Could you get them for me?"

"W-What…S-Shizuru…"

"It's for the soup Natsuki," the mischievous girl smiled innocently, "negi is one of the best ingredients to add in order to increase the taste of soup. Why does Natsuki look so startled? What did she think—"

"—Alright, alright. I'll get it." The blue-haired girl struggled to regain what little composure she could muster before retrieving the wanted thing."

"Ookini. Could you wash it and the vegetables you just bought for me too?"

"Fine," Natsuki mechanically started to wash what was asked of her in the fashion she was taught years back by the person standing next to her side.

"I still haven't thanked you for letting me stay here."

"Nonsense. Natsuki is always welcomed to stay," the other easily replied, a gentle smile was on Shizuru's face before she turned her attention back to the soup.

"No. Not just that but for everything. You've given me so much and I—"

"—Natsuki if you are done, can you please cut them. Small pieces are—"

"—Shizuru, I'm trying to say something." Natsuki's eyes were of a hard dark green color. The other girl could see that anger and frustration peaked from the blue haired girl's face. There was steely determination, a jaw locked in aggravation which wished to explode. She could tell the other wanted to say something, something that plagued Natsuki's thoughts for a while.

To this the Shizuru turned once again to look at the well sculpted, almost doll-like face of Natsuki. A gentle, unreadable smile was on her face. It was one that was well perfected through years of training and strain. Natsuki had seen this side of Shizuru before. Often it was when dealing with people that the graceful teenager found trying or wanted to quickly deal with; Natsuki never expected to see her friend give this well practiced, false smile to her. It wounded her.

"You do not have to. I am glad that you allowed me to stay by your side for so long," the red eyed School President said, moving closer to the other girl's side. Shizuru took a spare cutting board and knife and started to cut the vegetables. "After all I have done, I am just grateful…"

Natsuki chose not to reply. She could feel that they were standing at a close, dangerous edge. Nothing had been said about what happened almost three days ago. Instead, they chose to act if it had nothing had happened, as if the rift in their friendship had never existed.

Looking at her own knife-work, the younger girl saw how her pieces ended up large, lopsided, and uneven. Shizuru's were small, uniform, and perfect. Her hands were a blur as they quickly went through the vegetables like they were nothing while Natsuki slowly and sluggishly sawed at pieces.

Everything the other girl did was like that: masterful and perfect. Natsuki had barely thought about it before, but now, more than ever, she wondered why Shizuru befriended her. Next to her, Natsuki seemed insignificant.

"Ow." Instinctively she put her hurt finger to her mouth. She had been careless. She looked at her friend apologetically though Natsuki did not see how Shizuru's eyes had widened for a second. "Sorry," she sighed, "I'm not good at this like you."

Blood…

Shizuru suddenly felt sick to her stomach. All power seemed to escape her in all directions. She felt dizzy, nauseous, like the world was shaking around her. The girl saw pools of red, bodies, carved flesh that she had left at the First District.

'_No, you are not like me at all…'_

"Shizuru!" She felt Natsuki grab her, slowing her descent down. She moved out of the other grasp.

"I-I am fine." She muttered softly, pushing herself up. She forced another false smile onto her face. "Natsuki should see to her wounds. We would not want it to get infected. I will finish here. Everything else is done."

The younger girl stared at her friend incredulously. Hurt was clear on her expression at how the other was acting. Abruptly Natsuki turned, walking out of the room, her long blue hair trailing behind.

Sighing to herself, Shizuru resumed. The sound of the knife easy cutting through substance could be heard as the blade rebounded on the wooden board. The Kyoto born did this quickly and skillfully, her face expressionless as she mercilessly chopped the vegetables into small pieces. She stood, lost in her thoughts, moving mechanically.

There was not a star in the sky that could be blamed for her actions.

…_D.S. al Coda_

(next chapter)


	2. Prelude conti

**A/N: **Thanks for all the kind reviews. I finally forced myself to sit down and finish this interlude. I figured that I needed add a little bit more before the fun actually starts. Chapter three is 1/4 done; I still want to figure out how much I want to put into that chapter.

**Stone**-Three words: Nao. Kozue. Meets. And I wonder who is throwing who to the wolves.

**Disclaimer: **Utena and Mai HiME do not belong to me. If I did, Mai HiME would be way more Natsuki and Shizuru-centric and Shiho and Tate would have stayed dead. I wouldn't change a second in RKU—that show was bloody brilliant.

**1st Movement**

Prelude conti.

_D.S._

Now, it was hot water that traced pathways across his body. His head was bowed down as water dripped in small rivers from his shoulder blades. He had moved from cold, punishing rain and into the shower. Like the steam rose and fogged up the glass in the bathroom, thoughts emerged and ran parallel with his regrets. Not only was he plagued by his own thoughts but also the ghosts that he inherited from Kokuyou no Kimi during the others' stay in his body also conversed with him. His mind whirled with the paradoxes that he created, each replacing the other with another "what if" scenario.

Was his actions justified? Did he have the right to change the world to fit his ideals? He _did_ have the power to do so. And if you had power…did you not make the most of it?

_If he had done...if he had made sure…_

_Drip drip. _

The water stopped. Reito loosened his tight grip on the handle and slowly let go. He slowly and mechanically dried himself and dressed. Just as he got out of the bathroom, the phone rang.

"Hello?" He said. Surprise and shock flew to his face as he heard the voice on the receiving end.

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"_Cheater."_

"It seems I finally have your full, undivided attention." Touga grinned and lazily threw down his cards.

Juri too threw down her hand. The expression of near anger and annoyance rang true on her face. Greenish-blue eyes glared at the other.

"Why are you wasting my time?" She said irritably. Juri had better uses for her lunch break than to listen to the egotistical boy talk.

"Can't you see that what goes on in this school does not happen because of chance, Juri?" The school playboy said calmly as he folded his arms, "even without my memory of the important parts of this year I know this. In fact, it only strengthens my point. Tell me that you never thought—tell me that you never wondered of the power of this school...this school where you and I, mere children, have more power than the majority of the faculty here. Why does such a place exist?"

He glanced at the fencing captain for a moment. She did not speak, instead chose to silently contemplate the President's words. Touga continued on.

"Nothing ever happens by chance," he repeated, stressing out his point. "We were not chosen to become duelist or part of the Student Council by chance. Therefore…you have heard the announcements made this morning. In another four days an entire academy worth of students are going to be studying and living in Ohtori."

"The question you—we should be asking is 'why'. Why is the Chairman and the School Board allowing this to happen? Where does that leave us?" Surely such a large assimilation is usually uncalled for.

Touga's eyes now showed an almost weary countenance as if he had spent the last few nights awake in reverie of the past. Closing his eyes, a sigh escaped his lips. He slowly stood up.

"Anyway, we are going to have an emergency Council meeting after school to plan for the arrival of our _guests._" In an almost gentlemanly fashion the 11th grader bowed before leaving.

"Until then Juri."

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Shizuru sighed and set down her tea cup. Her eyes flickered to Natsuki who was sitting adjacent to her. The blue haired girl ate quickly, never once looking up. The Kyoto born could tell that her friend was still seething from the other's posture. Natsuki was still angry at her.

They ate in silence. Both girls did not want to start conversation because they knew where it would lead to. Neither one wished to talk about events that had happened less than a week prior that had tore a large gap between them. Yet…_it_ hung around them like a tight embrace, suffocating them into the hushed uneasiness. Shizuru had, when Natsuki had accepted to stay in her room, without speaking gotten out her spare futon. She would have slept in the living room if Natsuki hadn't vehemently commanded her to switch places.

These three days—nights—had been terrible. Their conversations were usually short and abrupt—ghosts of what use to be between them.

The phone rang. Shizuru set down her _hashi_ and went to pick it up.

"Moshi moshi…yes," the red eyed girl looked up, her face emotionless. "Natsuki, I am going out," she said without a question.

"Come back soon," the other girl said moments later as the door had swung to a close.

_Coda_

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"You wanted to see me?"

From the windowsill, Mashiro spun her wheelchair around to face the person who stood in the shadows. Reito took a step forward from the shadows, his step resounding in the large room. Only the little rays of moonlight illuminated the room, the generator and power had been shorted days ago.

"Yes," she says softly.

He tilts his head questioningly, amusement sparked in his depths. "Well," he starts, "what do you want to do with me? Punish me for the wrongs I have done these past few weeks, Queen of Hell?"

Teal eyes remained soft as the doll's head shakes slowly. "No, not at all. You have done nothing wrong."

"Oh really, is your definition of 'wrong' is that such a word it is nonexistent then? Surely planning the destruction of the world and driving girls into enough pain and torment so they aim to kill is not 'wrong'?"

"Do you want me to punish you?" She asks simply as she stared into the eyes of the vessel who had hung her old body as a trophy beneath the school.

"Ara? Did I come at a bad time?" Though the words were meant to sound humorous, there was an underlying dangerous tone hidden like a concealed dagger. Crimson eyes glowed almost eerily in the darkness as Shizuru moved closer to the other two.

"Well now, what a party do we have here. Good evening, Shizuru-hime," Reito replied as he bowed mockingly.

Shizuru eyed him with bore, flat expression. "I would have killed you when I had the chance. I only followed with your plans because they were in my interests as well."

"You would have _tried_ to do so." He shot back. The black wearing Vice President was about to speak again before Mashiro interrupted them.

"I thought you two would know better than to start like that. I did not call the two of you about your actions during the Carnival." She moves to the large rectangular table in the middle of the room. "Please, take a seat," she says as she situates herself at the front of the table.

They took a seats perpendicular to the Director, adjacent to each other. Fumi moved towards them.

"Would you like so tea?" Both nod and accept the cups offered to them. The maid handed both of them thin vanilla folders and lighted the candles at the table before departing back into the retreating shadows. Mashiro took a drink from her own cup.

"I have plans to restore Fuuka to what it once was," she begins, "I have talked to several of our sponsors and providers and they have agreed to finance the rebuilding of the Academy. However, during this time the school will be unable to provide the necessities to her students."

"So what do you want of us mere students?" Reito asks. Though he would never admit it, a part of him was relieved that the meeting was not about the festival. His feelings about the past few days were turbulent and confused at best. He had opened his folder and was idly flipping through the information.

"During the meantime, I believed that it is for the best that our students continue their education so I have made accommodations with a neighboring gakuen. Fuuka's students will be studying there until our academy is fixed. I will be staying here to supervise the construction. You along with the rest of the seitokai will, with the help of their academy's seitokai, manage matters there."

Shizuru had stayed silent for most of the conversation. She had chosen to quietly sip the offered tea while the other two talked. The folder she had been given remained untouched. The unusual high tension between her and Natsuki had caused her reply to the vice president the way she did. She, like Reito, had thought Mashiro had called her on her actions during the festival and had been prepared to take the consequences of her actions. Finally she set down her teacup.

"If this is all you wanted to say," she started, "then why isn't the rest of the council here?"

Mashiro's gaze cast downwards, "Ohtori academy is much like our own. This year they have been in situation similar to ours."

Almost simultaneously both vice president and president had raised their brow. Reito was the first to speak.

"How so?"

"Their school is wrapped around their own sources of mystery and magic. The students there are confused about what had happened in the past year."

"How do you know this?" Shizuru asks simply.

"Does it matter?" the black haired male shot back though his retort did not even earn him a spare glance from the kaichou.

"I will tell you this: be careful when you deal with the Chairman. Do not get trapped in any games he might ask you to join. You are not in any way become tangled in the webs of their school's customs. These things should not concern to you or the rest of the council but I believe that the leaders should know of them. If anything is to happen than you will know how to deal with them."

"I have given the others instructions and duties to fulfill. What they are supposed to do are inside the folders you have been given. You may want to make sure everything that is being done is correct. In four days we should be ready to move the students into the academy."

"May I ask several questions?" the light brunette says in her distinctive accent. Mashiro nods and Shizuru begins.

"Does the other gakuen have the room to hold another thousand students and does the faculty have the resources to accommodate for us? And what about Fuuka's students—what makes you so sure that they will return after this year's chaos?"

"There will be several things that each side will have to abide by. Lodging will be dealt with by their Council and School Board. Those that return to Fuuka will go to the Academy."

"Why that gakuen? You make it seem that it is almost dangerous—what if something happens?"

"It is the closest one. Besides," a small smile rises on Mashiro's face, "I believe that these we can learn much from each other."

Shizuru nods, processing the information she had been given.

"That will be all today. I want both of you to return tomorrow afternoon. The rest of the seitokai that is able to attend will as well. We will discuss further details then."

President and Vice President stood up. They bowed before leaving the room.

"So what do you think Fujino-san?" Reito asks as they get ready to go back into the rain.

"The entire thing is absurd. The Director moves too fast. However…" She opens her umbrella starts to leave.

"Your fixation clouds your usually impeccable judgment you know." There is a grin on the black haired male's face as he calls out to her.

Shizuru turns, smiling, her voice was no louder than it usually was, "it always has _Minagi_ Reito-san. You should practice what you preach because it did and does yours."

…_end of first movement_


End file.
